Lavater's Physiognomy
Johann Caspar Lavater, c. 1789
$82
Print check at 10 x 8 in: 156 dpi, good. Trimmed 8% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $24.80 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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A page of faces and silhouettes, ranged so the reader might compare brow to brow and jaw to jaw — plates from Johann Caspar Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy, the work that made the reading of character from the face a European craze in the 1770s and after. Lavater held that the outward form of a head disclosed the soul within; the silhouette, cheap and exact, became his favourite instrument. The claim was false and, in later hands, dangerous. The plates, engraved with real delicacy, survive as art and as evidence — a record of how a whole age looked at faces, offered here for the history it holds.
- Maker
- Johann Caspar Lavater
- Date
- c. 1789
- Medium of the original
- Plate
- Original held by
- Wellcome Collection, London
- Credit
- Wellcome Collection, London
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00474
| Picture | 10 x 8 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 11.6 x 9.6 in |
| Depth | 0.9 in (22 mm) |
| Weight | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]] |
| Hanging | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]] |
| Material | Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing |
| Made in | Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi |
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | dpi | Grade | How it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 x 8 in | 156 | Good | Trimmed 8% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 12 x 8 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
| 14 x 11 in | 111 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 12 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 18 x 12 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
| 20 x 16 in | 78 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
| 24 x 18 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 30 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
| 30 x 24 in | 52 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 36 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
| 40 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 48 x 36 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 60 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 23% crop |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 1,560 x 1,356 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 81, lights 243 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 300.05
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $24.80, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.
Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.
A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.
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